TV Review: CSI:NY “Super Men”

As this episode opens, a man runs past a top football draft pick being interviewed by Dick Enberg. A short time later, the crime scene detectives are called in.

Mac Taylor (Gary Sinise) and Stella Bonasera (Melina Kanakaredes) arrive and begin processing evidence. Det. Don Flack (Eddie Cahill) promises a local reporter she will get an exclusive when they discover an important piece of evidence. Mac notices a phone booth nearby contains a pile of clothes and a pair of eyeglasses.

Back at the lab, they find Dr. Sid Hammerback (Robert Joy), the medical examiner, with a full plate of autopsies. He will get to theirs when he can.

Adam Ross (A.J. Buckley), a technician, tells Mac there were traces of Krypton gas on glass found at the crime scene. To be sure, he ran the analysis more than once.

Det. Danny Messer (Carmine Giovinazzo) and Det. Lindsay Monroe (Anna Belknap) are called to another crime scene. When Danny walks in, Lindsay says the victim was about to become a major football star and rattles off a list of his accomplishments. Danny is quite impressed, and jokingly says he just might have to propose to Lindsay.

This interaction worked well! Danny is usually rough around the edges, so for him to make a joke shows he does have a charming side. Lindsay connected with his inner sports appreciation, and Danny used to be a baseball player until an injury forced him to quit. Carmine also had this happen, so the writers cleverly worked it in as a backstory.

Flack then decides a look at the surveillance tape from a nearby ATM might help.

He recognizes a drug addict he has arrested before. Flack hauls the guy in for questioning. The addict purchased a fake prescription for Oxy, a low grade form of heroin, with the money from his mugging victim. Flack has him arrested. When the guy protests, saying he thought he and Flack were “brothers,” Flack responds, “Sometimes brothers fight.”

Mac and Stella go to the psychiatric facility where their victim was staying. They confront the doctor on the fake prescription. He denies any wrongdoing, but agrees to provide a handwriting sample for comparison. An orderly tells the two cops their victim had a brother who always said he would take him home, but never did. Mac wonders, “What kind of man would lie to his brother?”

Two different men, and almost the same comment got me wondering if perhaps it is a reference to a future episode. When Danny got “Trapped” in a panic room, he got several cell phone calls from his brother, Louie. Could this be coming into play down the road?

An analysis of the envelopes the “superhero” got as government benefits shows the brother works on “Shoeshine Row,” meaning the brother is homeless. Mac talks to him. When asked why he did not go to see the “superhero” only a few blocks away, the brother said he was ashamed of his situation. Mac is sympathetic, and takes him to the morgue for identification of the corpse.

Stella has done a comparison of the two sets of handwriting. She determines they are not the same, so someone with medical knowledge forged the prescription. Mac and Stella decide the orderly at the psychiatric facility is their culprit.

An offer to grab a bite to eat from Danny causes Lindsay to recall a vital piece of evidence. A food service cart was no longer in the room by the time the detectives arrived. I thought Messer’s offer was a nice touch, since Lindsay has already asked him out for a drink. Could this be the start of a future plotline?

Victim One died after he got into an argument with the orderly from the psychiatric facility. He caught the orderly selling the fake prescription. During the ensuing argument, the killer used a karate chop to knock his victim senseless. Since the victim already had a head injury, the fall was enough to kill.

Victim Two also died during an argument. During high school, the victim was the drunk driver in a wreck, killing his high school sweetheart. The girl’s father went to his hotel room to wish the draftee well, but Tyrell did not want to be reminded of what happened. They argued, and Tyrell was accidentally stabbed with the needle used for inflating footballs. The pierce caused an air embolism, introducing air into the bloodstream.